Clark County Election board chair Democrat Andy Steele confirmed that at least one voter got their absentee ballot with an envelope without a return address on it. It should have been marked with the Clark County Clerk’s P.O. box.
Steele said the first batch of absentee ballots — around 1,600 — were mailed out Sept. 20. Those were in response to requests received from the start of the year. That’s the batch that included the incorrect envelope.
Steele said election staff checked the remaining batch of envelopes they have on hand for future requests — around 2,000 — and found a few without a return address. They removed those few envelopes.
“Hopefully there’s not that many, if any [more] at all,” Steele said.
If a voter received a ballot without the return address on the envelope, they can write it in:
Care of the Clerk of the Circuit Court
The Clark County Election Board
P.O. Box 399
Jeffersonville, IN, 47131-0399
Steele said they should also contact the clerk’s office with any questions and to alert staff that they received an envelope without an address, so the office can keep track. Voters can also bring the ballots in person.
He said if anyone already sent a ballot without a return address, it should be caught by the Jeffersonville post office and delivered to the correct place. If not, it should be caught by election staff doing regular checks to keep track of the ballots that go out and come in.
The ballots themselves are not affected by the envelope error, Steele said.
However, he did advise absentee voters to check the ballots to make sure they have the correct precinct number based on where the voter lives. To check a precinct, voters can go to indianavoters.com or contact the clerk’s office with questions.
The deadline to request an absentee ballot is Oct. 24. Steele said staff will check the new envelopes as they come in from a local printer, to ensure no more are mailed without a return address.
Steele said he expects a big year for absentee voting — both for mail-in ballots and those cast during early, in-person voting ahead of Election Day.
He said for the 2020 presidential election, which also had the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 28,000 voters cast ballots early — almost half the total number of ballots.
That year also saw more than 61% turnout for registered voters — the highest on record, he said.
Steele is the Democratic member of the three-person Clark County election board. Republican Clark County Clerk Ryan Lynch and Republican Tony Singleton are also members.
Steele encourages people to consider early voting this cycle too, to avoid any lines on Election Day.
“It should be very easy, but you can always avoid it if you get out early and you get your ballot cast ahead of time,” he said.
Voter registration ends Oct. 7 and early, in-person voting at the clerk’s office starts Oct. 8. This year, Clark County will also have a satellite early voting site in Sellersburg starting two weeks before Election Day.
Here are the times and locations:
Clark County Judicial Center, 501 E. Court Avenue, Jeffersonville
- Tuesday, Oct. 8 - Friday, Oct. 11, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Monday, Oct. 14 - Friday, Nov. 1, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 26, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Saturday, Nov. 2, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Monday, Nov. 4, 9 a.m. to noon
Tri-Township Fire Protection District headquarters, 601 Hamburg Way, Sellersburg
- Monday, Oct. 21 - Friday, Oct. 25, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Monday, Oct. 28 to Saturday, Nov. 2, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
For more information, visit clarkcountyelections.com or indianavoters.com.
Coverage of Southern Indiana is funded, in part, by Samtec Inc., the Hazel & Walter T. Bales Foundation, and the Caesars Foundation of Floyd County.
